Block installation of Windows XP SP3 and Vista SP1

Several users encounter problems and difficulties during and after installation of the two new Windows service packs that Microsoft released earlier this year. Both service packs will be automatically downloaded later this year to computers that have automatic updates enabled which could prove disastrous for companies who cannot afford that they computers stop working after the update.

A solution would obviously be to disable automatic updates but that’s probably not a preferred solution by many as well. The easiest way to block the automatic download and installation of both Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is a Registry key that has to be added to the Registry that prevents the installation for twelve months.

The update problems should be sorted out by that time and if they have not been it is still possible to disable automatic updates. To add the entry to the Registry do the following. Press Windows R, type regedit, hit enter.

The Registry opens and we need to navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate and create a new DWORD named DoNotAllowSP there. The value of the DWORD has to be set to 1.

An alternative would be to create a new text document, paste the following three lines into it and rename the document to block.reg afterwards.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"DoNotAllowSP"=dword:00000001

A double-click creates the new Registry key automatically. The block can be removed by either deleting the Registry key again or by setting the dword value to 0 instead.

• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Delicious
• Digg
• Twitter

Tags: block service pack, microsoft, registry tips, vista sp1, window xp, Windows, windows-vista, xp sp3
Categories: Knowledge, Operating Systems, Windows

Related posts:

4 Responses to “Block installation of Windows XP SP3 and Vista SP1”

1. Claus Valca says:

   May 15, 2008 at 7:10 pm

   For folks who don’t want to fiddle directly in the registry Microsoft also offers the following tool:

   Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit

   Includes an executable to accomplish the same thing, a script to run for remote workstations, and a tool to help with Active Directory Group Policy usage.

   Direct reg editing should work fine, but this is an “official” alternative from Microsoft.

   –Cheers

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

1. Come bloccare l’installazione di Windows XP SP3 e Windows Vista SP1 - Geekissimo says:

   May 16, 2008 at 7:02 am

   [...] Via | gHacks [...]
2. Come bloccare l’installazione di Windows XP SP3 e Windows Vista SP1 « PC Officina says:

   May 16, 2008 at 8:34 am

   [...] Via | gHacks [...]
3. SP3 in Windows XP | hilpers says:

   January 18, 2009 at 5:07 pm

   [...] > Met dank > > Je kunt een servicepack blokkeren door een aanpassing in het register: http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/15/blo…and-vista-sp1/ — [...]